Bacteria are single-celled organisms that do not have well-defined
organelles such as a nucleus. The cells are typically enclosed
in a rigid cell wall and a plasma membrane. Bacteria contain
all of the genetic material necessary to reproduce, and
they reproduce by simple cellular division. Bacteria show
a wide range of nutrient requirements and energy-related
metabolism. Some bacteria require only minerals and a carbon
source such as sugar for growth, while others require more
complex growth media. Bacteria play an extremely important
role in recycling nutrients in the environment. Bacteria
break down organic matter into simple compounds like carbon
dioxide and water, and they cycle important nutrients such
as nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus. Bacteria can migrate to
areas that are rich in specific nutrients that they require
for growth. Bacteria can also attach themselves to surfaces
and form communities known as biofilms.

2. What
are Enzymes...

An enzyme is a protein that acts as a catalyst. The enzyme
is responsible for accelerating the rate of a reaction in
which various substrates are converted to products through
the formation of an enzyme-substrate complex. In general,
each type of enzyme catalyzes only one type of reaction
and will operate on only one type of substrate. This is
often referred to as a "lock and key" mechanism.
As a consequence, enzymes are highly specific and are able
to discriminate between slightly different substrate molecules.
In addition, enzymes exhibit optimal catalytic activity
over a narrow range of temperature, ionic strength and pH.

3. Do
enzymes break down any molecule or just specific ones and
how specific do they get:

(Above). The specificity of an enzyme for it's substrate
is generally a function of the enzyme's "active site"
or binding site. The structure of the protein determines
the range of substrates or "keys" that can fit
into the lock. Most enzymes are exquisitely specific. That
is, they react only with one specific substrate. Some enzymes,
however, have a more flexible active site that can accommodate
molecules that are closely related to the target substrate.
In this case, there is typically a preferred substrate with
which the enzyme reacts at a higher rate than with related
compounds.

4. Can
Enzymes adapt to different conditions and to different grease,
oils and food:

Enzymes are not living things. They have no ability to adapt
to changing conditions or substrate sources. Their level
of activity is a function of these conditions. If they are
not in optimal conditions, their activity decreases or stops.

5. How
do bacteria break down any molecule or just specific and
how specific do they get:

Bacteria have the capability of producing many different
types of enzymes. They are living organisms that respond
to their environment. In general, bacteria are capable of
producing enzymes that degrade a wide variety of organic
materials such as fats, oils, cellulose, xylan, proteins,
and starches. It is important to note that all of these
materials are polymers that must be reacted with more than
one type of enzyme in order to be efficiently degraded to
their basic building blocks. Nature provides a specific
"team" of enzymes to attack each type of polymer.
For example, there are three different classes of enzymes
(endocellulases, exocellulases, cellobiohydrolases) that
are required to degrade a cellulose polymer into basic glucose
units. All three types of enzymes are referred to as cellulases,
but each class attacks a specific structure or substructure
of the polymer. Acting individually, none of the cellulases
is capable of efficiently degrading the polymer. Bacteria
can produce the complete "team" of enzymes that
are necessary to degrade and consume the organic materials
present in their environment at any given time. Moreover,
bacteria can produce multiple "teams" at the same
time.

6. Can
bacterium adapt to different conditions and to different
grease, oils and food:

Bacteria can adapt to a range of conditions and food supplies.
They can change the type of enzymes that they produce if
the food source changes. They can protect themselves from
changes in environmental conditions by forming colonies,
biofilms, or spores. Importantly, bacteria live in "communities"
made up of different species. Each species fills a biological
niche, and the population of each species grows or declines
in response to the environment. For example, a community
may contain certain species that efficiently degrade grease,
and other species that thrive on cellulose.

7. How
long do Enzymes work compared with Bacteria:

All enzymes have a limited half-life (minutes to days,
depending on conditions). They are proteins that are biodegradable
and are subject to damage by other enzymes (proteases),
chemicals, and extremes of pH and temperature. An important
difference between enzyme-based products and bacterial products
is that the enzymes can't repair themselves or reproduce.
Living bacteria, however, produce fresh enzymes on a continuous
basis and can bounce back following mild environmental insults.

8. How
quickly do high enzyme producing bacterias (Protease, lipase
and Amylase are what are commonly used in Naturclean-33)
produce enzymes.. and in what quantities:

Production of enzymes begins as soon as the bacteria begin
to grow. The cells must obtain nutrients from their surroundings,
so they secrete enzymes to degrade the available food. The
quantities of enzymes produced vary depending on the bacterial
species and the culture conditions (e.g., nutrients, temperature,
and pH) and growth rate. Hydrolytic enzymes such as
proteases, amylases, and cellulases, etc. are produced in
the range of milligrams per liter to grams per liter.

10. Are
these quantities enough to start to compare to straight
enzyme products:

Since we don't have any information on the enzyme content
of current "straight enzyme" products, it is difficult
to answer this question. It is also a function of dosing
of the product (i.e., how much, how often). In general,
one can assume that the customer could have more control
over initial enzyme concentration by adding a prepared enzyme
product. However, bacterial cultures can produce competitive
amounts of enzyme after a short colonization period. Bacteria
can grow very quickly, doubling their populations in as
little as 20-40 minutes. In some applications, it is common
to "boost" bacterial colonization by adding a
small amount of prepared enzyme to begin degrading the available
food. This is often done in composting processes to jump-start
the bacterial/fungal growth.

11. If
you use just Enzymes, how many different enzymes would you
need to use to effectively eliminate grease, oils and food
in a waste stream:

Again, somewhat difficult to answer. This depends on what
you mean by "eliminate". Significant degradation
would require, at a minimum, several of each of the hydrolytic
enzymes: proteases, cellulases, xylanases, amylases, lipases,
pectinases, and esterases. Ideally, you would also need
oxidative enzymes to degrade recalcitrant materials. Oxidative
enzymes are expensive and impractical to manufacture and
they require complex co-factors. This type of enzyme is
needed to degrade fatty acids, for example.

12. If
grease and oil are broken down will they regroup in the
pipe or lift station again and reform to clog pipes and
wet wells:

This depends upon how far the grease and oil are broken
down. Fats are mainly composed of molecules called triglycerides.
Triglycerides contain 3 long-chain fatty acids linked to
a 3-carbon backbone (glycerol). The first step in the degradation
of triglycerides is the cleavage of the 3 bonds that link
the 3 fatty acids to the glycerol backbone. Lipases and
esterases are the enzymes that catalyze this first step.
While the reverse reaction is possible, it is energetically
unfavorable, and the bonds will not re-form (expect under
special circumstances). Generally, lipases will cleave one
bond at a time to generate free fatty acids and mono- and
di-glycerides. The free fatty acids can combine with calcium
ions to form insoluble salts. These salts could cause clogs.
However, bacteria, unlike straight enzyme products, have
the ability to further degrade and utilize the free fatty
acids.

13. What
does happen to food particles and cellulose in the trap:

They are degraded over time if bacteria or appropriate
enzymes are present. The more complex the "food",
the more time and enzyme it will take to break it down.

14. Will
oil break down when you have just a few strains of grease
enzymes:

(see answer #12) The wider the variety of enzymes, the
more effective and efficient the degradation. Lipases, for
example, vary in the range of fatty acid chain length that
they can accept as substrate when attacking triglycerides.
Some prefer triglycerides with short-chain fatty acid substituents,
others prefer long chain fatty acids. One or two lipases
in a product will not be effective for all triglycerides.

15. If
you have cooking oil in the water, will it encapsulate the
enzymes or bacteria:

Most enzymes and bacteria are hydrophilic, or water-loving.
They naturally repel oil but can exist at an oil/water interface.
Under certain conditions when the oil concentration is much
greater than the water concentration, an emulsion can form
in which water drops containing enzymes/bacteria are dispersed
throughout the oil.

16. Does
aerobic or facultative anaerobic bacteria contribute to
odors or eliminate them:

17. Some
facilities will only use air and indigenous bacterium saying
any other added bacteria cause odors, can this happen:

The odors are a function of the air supply. The odors are
typically caused by anaerobes. Anaerobic bacteria are always
present in indigenous populations, and can thrive in pockets
of low oxygen concentration, even under aerobic conditions.
High quality bacterial products are free of contamination
by anaerobes and will not cause odors. However, if bacterial
products are added to a system and the air supply is not
increased proportionately to accommodate the increase in
biological activity, the whole system will go into oxygen
deprivation and the indigenous anaerobes will begin to thrive
and generate odors. If bacteria are added, the air supply
must be carefully monitored and increased accordingly to
prevent odors from the indigenous population.

18. Approx
how many enzyme types would it take to effectively control
waste in a waste stream considering the grease, oils, food
and cellulose

(see question #11)

19. How
does this compare with using the Naturclean-33 formula:

Naturclean-33 contains many different bacterial strains,
each selected for its efficiency at degrading certain waste
materials. With the bacterial product, the content of the
waste stream determines how many enzymes are produced, in
what sequence, at what concentration, and for what duration.
The bacteria function as millions of tiny enzyme factories
to produce the correct balance of degraditive power.

The bacteria contained in Naturclean-33 are completely safe when used as directed, and have been
carefully selected to create a mix that outperforms all
other bacteria products designed to eat grease. The 58 bacteria
strains contained in Naturclean-33 work as a team to tackle the wide variety of compounds found
in a sewer system. There is no other heavy-duty grease-eating
product on the market that carries the industrial strength
of Naturclean-33. And Naturclean-33 is the only grease-eating bacteria product on the market
with this uncompromising guarantee: It works
or it's free.